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In London last year, President Thein Sein said: “I guarantee to you that by the end of this year there will be no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar.”Sang Tan/AP

Richard Lloyd Parry Asia Editor

Published at 12:01AM, August 29 2014

The number of political prisoners in Burma has more than doubled since the
beginning of the year, in violation of a promise made by the country’s
reformist president during a controversial visit to Britain last year.

According to human rights campaigners, there were 70 people in Burmese prisons
for political offences last month, including journalists and political
activists, in an alarming reversal of the country’s democratic reforms. At
the end of last year, the number was 30 – despite a promise by President
Thein Sein that all political detainees would be released in 2013.